August Was a Great Month

School is back in session and August has come to a close for Birthday Blessings. It has been an amazing summer for our family and I hope it was for all of you as well.

This was my first summer home since quitting work, and I’m kind of on the fence about how I feel about the my littles going back to school. Before working, I hated to see them go. This year, I was kind of happy, but at the same time, wasn’t quite ready for them to go back. This summer was good for me to learn how to be patient with them, and although there were days where looks could kill, I definitely had my good moments as well. I’m sure many can relate. LOL

There are some special announcements that I would like to share with you.

1) NASCAR has invited us back to the speedway. For every volunteer we get, we will get a sizable donation based on the hours worked per volunteer. If you are interested in helping the weekend of October 17-18th, please let me know. I need at least 5-7 volunteers. Right now, I have 4, so any help you ca give us would be amazing! Expect to work 10-12 hours per day (more if it happens to rain and there is a delay). You will need to wear comfortable shoes and outerwear, must be able to stand long periods of time, and know how to work with money. You will be trained on the 17th. It is VERY easy and based on the number of people who attend the races, you will definitely get the hang of it all. Must be 18 years old and over.

2) As ofSept 1, 2015, we no longer will be accepting general population applications for Birthday Blessings. I have really been feeling led and directed to work more with our area shelters, transitional housing facilities and other community organizations and to meet the needs of the families who use them. This was a decision that I prayed about a lot and sought advice from to make sure that this was the direction I felt BBKC needed to go, and it seemsto be an overwhelming positive change.

Because of this change, we will not see as many children each month. We will probably see a range of anywhere from 5-10 children a month until we build up our relationships with other area shelters and community organizations.We have continued to take general population applications untilSept 1, so there will be a few that will still be on our calendar for the remainder of the year and we will honor them. I will continue to keep Shelter in front of the names of those children who are coming from shelters through 2015 or until I know that we have honored all general population applications.

3) Our website has been updated and we are thrilled that it is up and running. Please take a look at www.birthdayblessingskc.com.With a new vision and a new mission, we felt that a new look was in order as well.

4) My family and I areexpecting another child in February 2016. Was this ever a surprise for all of us!!!!Our plan was to not have anymore after our daughter was born, but our plan was not God’s plan. He is blessing us with another baby girl.I will be taking a maternity leaveFebruary through April, so any help that you can give me with aspects of baking, gifting and deliveries will be much appreciated. My family and I cover those children when nobody takes them, and it will be difficult to continue that in the first few months with a newborn.

5) For those of you who use Westside Family Church as your drop off point, there is a time change during the weekdays for drop-offs indefinitely. (Sun-Fri). If possible, please make sure your items are there by5pm. If this does not work for you, or if you work, just contact me and we can make arrangements. I will be happy to help in any way I can.

August brought us 24 beautiful smiles for this month. The families could not thank us enough for our help and our time to be able to help them provide birthday items to their child.